Franchitti claims pole at Sonoma

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/22/2009 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dario Franchitti edged Ryan Briscoe in Saturday's qualifying at Infineon Raceway to take the pole position for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Franchitti overcame a mishap during the Fast Six segment - the third and final session in qualifying - when he missed a turn and spun into the dirt. He cleaned the dirt off his tires in the closing minutes before turning in a lap around the 2.303-mile, 12-turn road course in one minute, 16.7987 seconds. Franchitti recorded his fourth pole of the season and the 10th of his IndyCar Series career.

"Sometimes you have to hang on to it as well, and sometimes you have to wheel around," Franchitti said after winning the pole at Sonoma for the second time. "Today I had a pretty good car. In a couple corners I had to commit to them and hang on, but in general the car was really good. I'm very happy to get the Target car on the pole for the race."

Franchitti's first pole here came in 2007, the same year he won the IndyCar championship. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver also denied Briscoe and Helio Castroneves from giving Team Penske a one-two on the front starting grid at Sonoma for the second straight year.

Briscoe finished .05 seconds behind Franchitti to take the outside pole.

"I'm a little bit frustrated," said Briscoe, who also started second in last year's race at Sonoma. "There was a couple of times when I was quicker, but I was having a few braking issues here today. I was struggling a little bit to get some consistency."

Castroneves, who started on the pole and won at Sonoma last year, qualified third, while Marco Andretti and Hideki Mutoh, both from Andretti Green Racing, rounded out the top-five.

Graham Rahal qualified sixth, followed by Tony Kanaan, newcomer Franck Montagny and Mike Conway. Scott Dixon, the current points leader, was a surprising 10th after struggling throughout qualifying.

"It was pretty dismal, actually," Dixon said. "The saving grace was Dario winning the pole, which is fantastic. It helps us keep some points off those Penskes. We'll have to go off-strategy tomorrow and try something a bit different."

Dixon currently holds a three-point lead over Briscoe and a 19-point advantage over his Ganassi teammate Franchitti.

The preliminary 24-car field has been trimmed to 22 entries after Will Power and Nelson Philippe were involved in a serious crash during practice earlier in the day at Sonoma. Power sustained two compression fractures in his lower back, while Philippe suffered an open fracture to his left foot. Both drivers also sustained concussions. They were transported to nearby Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. They will be hospitalized for at least overnight.

Sunday's 75-lap race is scheduled to start around 5:50 p.m. (et).

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